This invention relates to printing a document from a scanner which has scanned in that document, and more particularly to printing such a document utilizing multiple printers organized into a selected cluster of appropriate, available printers which have an operative connection to such a scanner.
The present invention specifically addresses the issue of implementing a high volume of documentary printing of scanned images through a system, and a methodology, which allow for a scanned image to be directed for printing to a currently selected cluster of a plurality of printers that have been identified as being currently available for use, and which have been found to possess appropriate characteristics for the particular printing job.
The invention thus proposes, for the first time, a system which can be described as including (1) a scanner for scanning in images that are to be printed, (2) appropriate control structure connected to, or part of, that scanner for performing an enhanced discovery function that enables detection of the availabilities, identities, and operating characteristics of a plurality of available printers, and (3) an appropriate population of printers from which a operative cluster can be selected for use. The fundamental methodology of the invention can be expressed as a process which utilizes the performances of these three systemic elements, namely, a scanner, a control structure as generally described, and an available population of potentially selectable printers. Cluster selection according to the invention is very flexible, and is definitively variable from print-job to print-job.
Various manners of implementing and specifically structuring the system and methodology of this invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.